Jordan J. Ballor

Jordan J. Ballor (Dr. theol., University of Zurich; PhD, Calvin Theological Seminary) is director of research at the Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy at First Liberty Institute.

Posts by Jordan J. Ballor

David Brooks Is onto Something. Christians Take Note.

It has taken some time but there are signs that the cultural elites, members of what has been called America’s “ruling class,” have started to engage in some long overdue self-examination as it relates to their engagement with populist dynamics, especially as represented in the figure of Donald Trump. Continue Reading...

What Is Protestant Social Teaching?

The point of departure for Protestant Social Teaching: An Introduction is an observation set forth by Stephen J. Grabill in the pages of the Journal of Markets & Morality: “Neither magisterial Protestants nor evangelicals have a theologically unified body of social teaching.” Continue Reading...

How does human work further human dignity?

For all the claims regarding the subjectivity of economics, including schools of thought that emphasize subjective value theory and the descriptive rather than the normative, much mainstream economic thought focuses on what seems to be objective and measurable. Continue Reading...

How much is good parenting worth?

Recent policy debates over direct cash grants to parents from the federal government expose our society’s dysfunctional attitudes toward work and parenting. Over at the Detroit News, I have some thoughts and (mostly) concerns. Continue Reading...

Entrepreneurship in theological perspective: Creative and innovative

What distinguishes something that is truly creative from something that is simply innovative? And how do we value and prioritize one or the other? In a recent study, “Creativity, Innovation, and the Historicity of Entrepreneurship,” Victor Claar and I attempt to disambiguate what we call “creative entrepreneurship” from “innovative entrepreneurship.” Continue Reading...